Gangland 7/7/2022

[Dr031718]

Two Big Macs: The Day Sally Daz Was Gunned Down In A McDonald's Drive-Thru His Alleged Killer Son Celebrated His Son's Birthday In Another McDonald's Restaurant

On the day mob associate Sylvester (Sally Daz) Zottola was shot to death in a McDonald's drive-thru in the Bronx, his son Anthony begged off meeting his alleged accomplice in the execution murder of his father. He would be busy, he said, celebrating his son's birthday at a McDonald's, his son's favorite restaurant, Gang Land has learned.

"Lol," Zottola cracked in a reply text to Bushawn (Shelz) Shelton, the accused Bloods street gang leader, prosecutors say. "Like I eat that stuff," the text continued. "Thank you for being a great friend my man," said Zottola, who agreed to meet up with Shelton the following day, the prosecutors wrote in a recent court filing.

In requesting an anonymous and partially sequestered jury for the murder-for-hire trial that begins next month, prosecutors also disclosed that Sally Daz was killed by a two-man hit team that had placed a tracking device on his car and had used it to follow him to the McDonald's drive thru where he stopped for coffee at about 4:30 in the afternoon of October 4, 2018.

As Sally Daz waited for his coffee, the prosecutors wrote, Bloods gangster Himen (Ace) Ross jumped from the hit team's car, and fired several shots through the driver's side window, killing the Bonanno family associate. Then Ross ran out of the McDonalds parking lot to the waiting car he came in, and made his escape with getaway driver Alfred (Aloe) Lopez, they wrote.

Ace Ross kept Shelton up to speed on the planned hit as it progressed, the prosecutors wrote, and "two minutes after Zottola's death," Ross sent his boss a one word text, "Done." Shelz sent Ross a one word reply, "Kopy," the prosecutors wrote, and then "passed along the message to Anthony Zottola," who thanked Shelton for "being a great friend" but told him he couldn't see him that night because of his plans to celebrate his son's birthday.

"It's my lil man bday I am taking him to his favorite place mc Donalds than a movie," is the text that Zottola sent back to Shelton, according to the government filing by assistant U.S. attorneys Kayla Bensing, Devon Lash and Emily Dean. (Gang Land asked if he meant he would "then" take his son to a movie after McDonald's or "rather than" to a movie but prosecutors and his lawyers declined all comment.)

The duo agreed "to meet the following day" and Zottola stated he would send "the cases of water in a day or so," the prosecutors wrote, noting that the FBI recovered a photo of a "cardboard box of bottled water, as well as over $200,000 in banded currency" on Shelton's cellphone when he was arrested a week later.

Ross was also part of a hit team that tried and failed to whack Zottola on June 12, 2018, the prosecutors wrote. Daz, who'd survived four prior attacks and had begun carrying a weapon, saw a gunman get out of a dark-colored Honda that had stopped in front of his Bronx home and "fired a shot" at the approaching gunman, who ran back to the car that took off, the prosecutors wrote.

For saving his life that day, the prosecutors wrote, police charged Sally Daz with illegal possession of a firearm. About an hour after the failed rubout, they wrote, "police officers in Manhattan conducted a traffic stop of the Honda," and recovered a gun, mask, and gloves from the car, after "Ross fled on foot."

A month later, on July 11, prosecutors say Ross was part of a three-man hit team that was snared on a security videotape chasing and shooting at Salvatore Zottola at point blank range as he rolled along the street in front of his home. That planned execution, under orders from brother Anthony, somehow failed. Prosecutors say Bloods gangster Arthur (Scary) Codner was part of the hit team that escaped in a red Nissan.

In addition to the horrific crimes the men are charged with, prosecutors Bensing, Lash and Dean cited efforts by Zottola and Shelton to "interfere with the judicial process" and "obstruct the government's investigation" of their crimes as reasons why Brooklyn Federal Judge Raymond Dearie should select an anonymous and partially sequestered jury for the six week-long trial.

Zottola, 44, Shelton, 38, Ross, 36, Lopez, 39, and Codner, 34, are charged with murder-for-hire, murder conspiracy, and weapons charges during a 13-month long plot that ended with the killing of Sally Daz in October of 2018 and included the drive-by attempted murder of his son Salvatore three months earlier.

When the FBI agents arrested Shelton a week after the murder of Sally Daz and seized a cellphone with "incriminating communications" that Shelz and Anthony Zottola had "shortly after Sylvester Zottola's murder," Shelton had his wife contact the feds and state that the cellphone "belonged to her" and should be returned, the prosecutors wrote.

Two months later, they wrote, between December 20, and December 23, 2018, while Shelton was in the Metropolitan Detention Center, he used a cell phone that was confiscated by his jailers to speak about the case to his alleged partner-in-crime, Zottola, who wasn't arrested until June of 2019.

A month after he was arrested and detained without bail, in an effort to undermine the government's case, the prosecutors wrote, "Zottola contacted a key witness the government expects will testify at trial," his brother Salvatore, who seemed to have miraculously survived his execution in a video that will be played at the trial that is slated to begin on August 24.

In July of 2019, they wrote, "Zottola sent a letter to Salvatore Zottola" in which he invoked the words of their slain father in an effort to sway his brother not to testify against him. In the letter, Zottola stated that "from the time [they] were born [they] have been best friends" and that their father "taught [them] to love each other;" that "[Anthony has] always had [Salvatore's] side, believe it or not," and that "no matter what [they] were there for each other."

"Given Anthony Zottola's knowledge that Salvatore was cooperating with law enforcement," wrote prosecutors Bensing, Lash and Dean, "this letter was a clear attempt to influence his brother's expected testimony against him."

"Zottola has also informed at least one witness," the prosecutors wrote, "that (Zottola) was mad that (his brother Salvatore) was cooperating in the investigation."

And while he was "orchestrating the attacks" against his brother and his father, the prosecutors wrote, Zottola also spoke to his father and brother about the assaults and "followed law enforcement's investigation into the attacks" in an effort to "determine whether he was under suspicion and (to) evade detection."

"Zottola drove Sylvester Zottola to the FBI New York Field Office to meet with agents from the FBI to discuss the ongoing attacks" and while agents met privately with his father, "Anthony Zottola remained inside of the building and spoke to (other) agents" about the government's investigation, the prosecutors wrote.

He also had "brainstorming conversations with family members and others" about possible suspects in "the attacks against his father and brother," and "arrang(ed) for the hiring of security" personnel to protect them while he was in fact continuing to plan to kill them with Shelton and his underlings, the prosecutors wrote.

While the more than $200,000 that Shelton allegedly received from Zottola and supposedly shared with his underlings is clearly their alleged motive in the murder-for-hire scheme, the feds have never spelled out a reason why Zottola wanted to kill his father, who helped set him up in business and who left him millions of dollars in his will, or his brother Salvatore.

But in a bail hearing in 2020, prosecutor Bensing told Dearie that "text messages" the feds recovered from Shelton's cell phone make "clear that the defendant had serious problems with his father and with his brother. He spoke about them in derogatory terms and it is actually quite shocking the way that he described his family members."

Defense lawyers argued that an anonymous jury was prejudicial and inappropriate because none of the defendants, including the Bloods members, who have several arrests and convictions, have ever been accused of jury tampering or threatening jurors, which is why the first anonymous jury was selected 45 years ago for the trial of Harlem drug merchant Leroy (Nicky) Barnes.

Their right to a fair trial free of any prejudice of their presumed innocence is "very real here" because Zottola is charged with "the unthinkable: orchestrating violent attacks, resulting in the death of his own father," and to keep the names of jurors secret would be extremely prejudicial, wrote Zottola's lawyers Henry Mazureek and Ilana Haramati.

Telling jurors that the Court will protect their identities and their safety by not disclosing their names and having armed U.S. Marshals escorting them to and from court sends the very direct message that their safety is in jeopardy," the lawyers wrote, "even when it is not."

The lawyers cited rulings by judges who denied anonymous jury motions in two trials that Gang Land has written thousands of words about that ended in guilty verdicts to argue against one in their case: Judge Jack Weinstein's in Brooklyn in 2006 in the murder trial of rogue NYPD Mafia Cops Louis Eppolito and Steven Caracappa, and Cathy Seibel's in White Plains in 2019, in the trial of four Luchese gangsters for the murder of former Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish.

And if Dearie were to grant the government's motion for alleged organized crime connections of the accused members of the Bloods street gang, Mazurek and Haramati wrote, he should sever Zottola from their trial since "the government has not alleged his involvement with organized crime."

Editor's Note: Gang Land is taking a Summer Slide next week, but will be back with real stuff about organized crime in two weeks, on July 21, 2022.

Lawyer: Feds Have No 'Good Cause' To Protect Identity Of Punched Restaurant Owner

Athena attorney for 85-year-old mobster Anthony (Rom) Romanello says the feds have no business declaring that the identity and personal info about a prominent Manhattan restaurateur who was punched in the face by the wiseguy should be kept secret as so-called "Protective Witness Discovery Material" because it "impinges" on his client's constitutional rights to a fair trial.

It's also "laughable," scoffed outspoken mob lawyer Gerald McMahon.

We'll get to why McMahon says it's legally improper, and the quick ruling he got from the judge, soon enough. It's laughable, says the attorney, because Romanello and the restaurant owner he socked in his eatery on May 11, 2017 have known each other for 30 years and "there is no need to be concerned with the (restaurateur's) privacy interests."

The "victim," whom McMahon did not name in his filing but whom Gang Land identified two months ago as Bruno Selimaj, the owner of the swank Club A Steakhouse on East 58th Street, "refused medical attention and had no visible signs of injury" that night and withdrew the police report he filed "the very next night," McMahon wrote.

"I was thinking over the past 24 hours," Selimaj wrote the next day, according to McMahon, that he would like "to drop the charges" that he had lodged against Romanello, noting that they had known each other for 30 years, that he thought Rom "didn't mean to do that," and that it was simply "a misunderstanding between me and him."

Notwithstanding the official police report, as Gang Land reported on May 5, Romanello allegedly punched out Selimaj on behalf of a mob-connected Queens bookmaker and sometime actor Luan (The Waterbug) Bexheti, who wanted Selimaj to make good on a gambling debt that a relative owed him.

Romanello apparently didn't like what Selimaj had to say in response to the mobster's alleged demand for the money that his relative owed to Bexheti, a reputed Albanian gangster with close ties to the Genovese crime family and "just clocked him," said one source.

It's unclear whether Rom's alleged pasting convinced Selimaj or his relative to fork over the dough to Bexheti, but the duo and Genovese soldier Joseph Celso, who accompanied Romanello to the Club A on that May 2017 night in question, are charged with federal loansharking charges in the case.

In a July 3 letter asking Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Komitee to eliminate the government's "Protective Witness" order request, McMahon argued that there was no "good cause" to keep the victim's name and other information from his client since the "disclosure" would not "result in a clearly defined, specific and serious injury."

His client, wrote McMahon "should be permitted to have a copy of all discovery material" except for some already agreed to "appropriate redactions." Otherwise, the lawyer argued, his defense would suffer because he "is 85 years-old, doesn't have a computer or do video conference calls" and lives on Long while his lawyer works "primarily out of (his) New Jersey office."

In a decision he filed yesterday, Judge Komitee ruled that the reasons the government posited for its protective order banning the "specific discovery materials" about the victim from being "possessed or accessed" by the defendant did not satisfy the requirements for "good cause."

Komitee cited the contention by Romanello that the proposed protection order "would impede his ability to participate in his defense," and ordered the government to "set forth a sufficient basis for the currently proposed protective order or submit a new proposed order omitting the language to which Romanello has objected" by next week.

Working At The Car Wash! His Bogus Roofing Job Exposed, Ex-Mob Enforcer Changes Careers

He didn't climb up on any roofs, but as he promised, the volatile turncoat mob enforcer Gene Borrello made it to Florida last week — in style behind the wheel of a Porsche convertible. And he posted his ride on Instagram along with a screenshot of him with Hall of Fame Yankee closer Mariano Rivera in the background for all his fans, followers and the FBI to see.

Sources say that last week the FBI began investigating the status of the very suspicious looking "Dear Gene" job offer letter that his lawyer filed under seal three months ago with Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block in Borrello's still pending sentencing for his violation of supervised release last year.

It’s unclear how long the ex-Bonanno gangster will remain in the Sunshine State since the letter that won him an adjournment of his sentencing to work as a roofer there was called a "complete fabrication" by the owner of T&G Roofing. But Borrello's living large down South, at least on his Instagram account.

A day after the self-described book author-podcaster posted his attention grabbing arrival in Tampa on July 1, it was replaced by other viewings of the in-your-face ex-tough guy from Howard Beach who sees himself as a truth-telling former member of the organized crime scene who hopes to convince youngsters not to follow in his footsteps to notoriety.

One of the new postings had Borrello posing in front of what he told Gang Land was a luxury car wash business in which he's now a 50% partner. No more talk about the $40,000 a year roofing job that got him judicial approval to relocate to Florida since the owner of T&G Roofing said he had no idea who Borrello was and hadn't offered him a job.

"I'm a 50% owner of a hand wash business here in Tampa Bay," he told Gang Land in a brief conversation this week. "That is my job now. Everything's turned out great," said Borrello, who was mum about Gang Land's information that FBI agents were investigating the job-offer letter that his lawyer had filed with her sentencing memo in his case.

Robin Sherer, who stated last week that "all sorts of stuff" in the purported letter from his company was "wrong" and said his company "did not offer this guy a job," told Gang Land that FBI agents visited his office last week and questioned him about the letter after he spoke to us.

"I spoke to them with respect to that," said Sherer, whose Oldsmar, Florida company is now known as Trust Roofing, "and I gave them the same information as you — that it's a total fabrication. So they are rocking and rolling. I gave them all the information they needed."

There have been no filings in Borrello's case since his sentencing was adjourned and his unsigned and undated "Dear Gene" job offer letter was unsealed. His attorney Nancy Ennis, and prosecutor Matthew Galeotti, declined to comment or did not respond to calls or emails from Gang Land about the case.

[AntComello]

Thanks for posting. The zattola kid is a complete moron. Why whack your father and brother when you’re already a millionaire and being left millions of dollars in property makes no sense.

[Amershire_Ed]

Thanks for posting

[JohnnyS]

Thanks for posting. The zattola kid is a complete moron. Why whack your father and brother when you’re already a millionaire and being left millions of dollars in property makes no sense.

Scumbag. Needs thrown under the jail.

Thanks for the post Dr.

[OcSleeper]

Still nothing on Mancuso whose 2nd court appearance was suppose to be back in April.

[Pmac2]

Zattola is a sick fuck.

[AntComello]

Thanks for posting. The zattola kid is a complete moron. Why whack your father and brother when you’re already a millionaire and being left millions of dollars in property makes no sense.

Scumbag. Needs thrown under the jail.

Thanks for the post Dr.

Agreed

[JeremyTheJew]

Still nothing on Mancuso whose 2nd court appearance was suppose to be back in April.

Mancuso has a court case?

[Ivan]

Thanks for posting. The zattola kid is a complete moron. Why whack your father and brother when you’re already a millionaire and being left millions of dollars in property makes no sense.

Something weird going on with this beyond the money, it looks like.

[OcSleeper]

Still nothing on Mancuso whose 2nd court appearance was suppose to be back in April.

Mancuso has a court case?

He was picked up back in March on parole violations 2 days before his parole was up. The violations dated back to 2020 and 2021 meetings with Colombo members and Bonanno member John Ragano. It related to the Colombo 2021 indictment that also included Ragano.

According to Capeci and NYDailyNews, Mancuso was out on a $500k bond and had another court appearance due in April. We haven't heard anything since then. BOP still has him released so I guess he's still on the street.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

[AntComello]

Thanks for posting. The zattola kid is a complete moron. Why whack your father and brother when you’re already a millionaire and being left millions of dollars in property makes no sense.

Something weird going on with this beyond the money, it looks like.

Has to be. I’m sure we’ll hear more during the trial. Either there was some deep family issues or this kid was just a wacko or maybe both lol either way hiring a bunch of gangbangers to clip your dad and brother is beyond comprehension to me.

[Tonyd621]

Still nothing on Mancuso whose 2nd court appearance was suppose to be back in April.

Mancuso has a court case?

Yeah definitely personal imo. It said he talked about them (his dad and brother) In a derogatory way in text.

[Ivan]

Thanks for posting. The zattola kid is a complete moron. Why whack your father and brother when you’re already a millionaire and being left millions of dollars in property makes no sense.

Something weird going on with this beyond the money, it looks like.

Has to be. I’m sure we’ll hear more during the trial.

yeah it's gonna come out that the dad molested him or made him fuck his sister at gunpoint or something

[Waingro]

Thanks for posting.